A Closer Walk

I have been away from church most Sundays this year. Early in the year I hit yet another stumbling block on this walk that for all of us knows challenge on top of challenge. The good news for me is that I haven’t been away from my trust in God. The furrow on my brow that people often ask about is more present. My walk toward the light—sometimes a search—continues.

Early this year, Lent came as usual, and my forehead went unmarked by palm ash. And though I wasn’t in church on Sundays, I read Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan’s discussion of the last seven days of the life of Jesus, as recorded in the Gospel of Mark (“The Last Week”). I’ve dabbled in Buddhist writings and have been especially drawn to a couple of books by Zen Buddhist master, Thich Nhat Hanh. He treats two important aspects of human behavior—love and anger—that for me are at the heart of what marks us as human. Joseph Campbell’s “The Power of Myth”, both a PBS documentary and a transcript of a conversation with Bill Moyers from the 1980s, reminded me that history is filled with Christ figures, stories of the creation, virgin births, persecution, death, resurrection and redemption. And now, as Advent begins, I have without a plan visited a Christian worship, and at the same time I am paused to consider Elaine Pagels’ work on Gnosticism.

Argument aside, every faith tradition teaches the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Do not do unto others what you would not have done unto you. The fringe of any tradition that teaches mistrust and hate has by choice lost sight—has chosen to walk away from the light, to walk away from that which is divine in each of us.

Life takes us where we need to go, even though at times we are kicking and screaming. Yesterday as I sat waiting for Christian worship to begin, I had not remembered that it was the first Sunday in Advent—that season in the Christian tradition celebrating the birth of Jesus. I was prepared to grow because I’ve heard the reputation of the Yale-educated female minister who has pastored this congregation for over 20 years. Innocently, I didn’t know that her message would be directed at the very things that have been most on my mind of late. But then, why wouldn’t it? Change (end days), compassion, love, charity, faith. I have long realized that the kingdom many of us pray for in the Lord’s prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) is not some distant hope, a reward that we might ultimately somehow reap even when things seem hopeless as we trod on. When a friend told me a couple of months ago that she consoles herself in the midst of family turmoil by reminding herself that life in the everlasting will be trouble free, I was speechless. I have grown to believe that the work we are asked to do now on our faith walk creates the kingdom in our hearts and also in our lives. Those eager to quote scripture and the teachings of the man we call Jesus are well served to remember that. My experience lately reminds me that life is abundant, the love of the Divine is abundant, and it is only through human kind’s manipulation that this abundance is denied to many. Each of us has an incredible power to make a difference. We see this happening everywhere, regardless of how bleak the landscape may seem at times. I give thanks for this reminder.

A Closer Walk—Santa Fe, New Mexico (November 30, 2009)
R. Harold Hollis